The Crosswalk Incident
by LlamaSocks
Summary: Your name is John Egbert. You've had sixteen years of life; certainly enough time to know that you're a fairly awkward person. But you've got to say that this is taking it to a whole new level. ((So, first time writing a fanfic. We'll see how it goes. Sorry for deleting it the first time, I noticed a few major flaws. Homestuck and its characters belong to Hussie, obviously.))


Your name is John Egbert. You've had sixteen years of life; certainly enough time to know that you're a fairly awkward person. But you've got to say that this is taking it to a whole new level.

You're standing in the middle of a crosswalk, in a busy city, with your arms clasped around a complete stranger. And you're _fucking salsa dipping him._ Which is hilarious in its own way of course, considering you can't even dance to save your life. You had been on your way to school, walking there instead of driving because your father had had to leave early for work and couldn't give you a ride to school. It's been an ordinary walk, or it _was_, until another boy around your age tripped in front of you, and nearly face-planted onto the ground. Thanks to your (surprisingly fast) reflexes, paired with your reliable ability to stumble over your own feet at the worst of times, you now have an armful of stranger and a giant lump in your throat as you think of how you can make this moment less uncomfortable.

The stranger on the other hand looks like he's in the process of wondering whether to push you off and run away as fast as possible, or to stand up and thank you. It looks like he's taking the later option. He starts to try and gain his footing, and you help him out by pulling him up to a vertical position. Once it's ensured that no one will be falling face-first onto the ground any time soon, neither of you know exactly what to do. He's adjusting his slightly crooked shades with one hand, and rubbing his other hand on the back of his neck, obviously trying to gain a composed face and somewhat succeeding. You on the other hand have turned a brilliant shade of red, failing to even remotely pretend that what you've done wasn't embarrassing to some extent. You try nervously smiling. You open your mouth, planning to say, "Well, this may be awkward but at least you didn't smash your face into the ground!" Then you realize that is an extremely stupid thing to say, so you clamp your mouth shut again.

The ungainly atmosphere is doing nothing to help the moment, so instead you decide to break the silence by clearing your throat. The stranger finally looks over at you, and gives you a small but polite nod, his face now a complete mask. Seemingly satisfied with his own form of gratitude, he turns away and hurries off to wherever the hell he needs to be. You don't know whether to think he's an asshole for not properly thanking you, or to be grateful that he didn't stretch the moment out longer than it should have been. Instead of coming to a conclusion, you shrug and continue on your way to school.

Besides that moment, which you have now subconsciously given the name, 'The Crosswalk Incident,' your morning is pretty normal. You meet up with your friends before the first bell and tell them what happened on your way there. Your cousin, Jade, laughs and says that "maybe your inner dance-star just wanted to break free!" Rose, a childhood friend, gives you a small smirk then returns to reading her book. The rest of your friends laugh and either mockingly ask you to give them dance lessons sometime, or pretend to scold you, saying things like, "John, what did your father tell you about salsa dipping strangers?"

You're grinning as the morning bell rings, and you head to class. Your first class of the day, Math, is okay, though there's a lot of work to do. Spanish makes your head spin as you try to sort through God knows how many past, present, and future tenses. By the time Physics is over, the grin you started out with this morning has transformed into an expression of utter exhaustion. You can't help it if your classes are so mind-numbingly boring! At least you have a rest from all the classes; it's time for lunch. Sitting at the lunch table, you wonder if you could shut your eyes for five minutes and get away with it when a loud exclamation from Jade causes you to jump up in fright.

"Hey, look! There's a new guy! Why is he wearing shades? Doesn't he realize we're indoors?" Jade has successfully snapped you out of your stupor, so you might as well see whom she's talking about.

There's a boy standing a little ways off from your table. Considering you don't recognize him from any of your classes (and you have made it a goal to know everyone at your relatively small school), you assume that this is the new kid. Your first impression of him is that he's kind of intense. His face looks impassive, but his stance shows that he's clearly focused on his task of scanning the cafeteria, as if searching for someone to pick a fight with him. It's obvious that your fellow students have gotten the same impression as you, considering no one has made an effort to even talk to this guy. He's slouching slightly; it doesn't do anything to deter the sharp atmosphere surrounding him. His blonde hair is flopped over his eyes—more accurately, his shades. Jade was right, he is still wearing them indoors. Personally, you think that he looks a bit ridiculous.

You're still scanning his face when you suddenly experience of pinch of recognition. You've seen this guy before! But where, exactly? You look him over twice as hard and your eyes settle on his shades again. The realization strikes you. _The stranger from 'The Crosswalk Incident!' Those shades look like his! That means…_ Oh.

Now seems like an appropriate time to bang your head against the table, and keep it there for the remainder of lunch. Maybe he won't see you. You hope so. But of course, you don't have any luck remaining unnoticed. Rose is the first to remove her gaze from the new kid, and glance over at you. She looks more amused than worried.

"John, I'm assuming that from your current position, and the look of utter, unrestrained horror that has appeared on your face after mentioning this mysterious new student, that there is something you know about our fellow classmate. Perhaps you wish to share your knowledge with us?"

Damn it Rose. She's too observant. You slowly sit up and chuckle nervously, trying to pull your face into a more composed manner. But of course, now that Rose has drawn the group's attention to you, there's nothing you can do. You're twiddling with your fingers, preferring to stare at your hands rather than make eye contact. You know that your friends are going to probably force you to somehow interact with this new guy if you tell them who you think he is. Watching you try to pretend that nothing happened between you and him will be the entertainment of the week, and your pals will probably laugh about it for months afterwards. Well, you might as well get this conversation over with.

"Heheh. Uh… I recognize the new kid, I think."

"Yes, that was fairly obvious, John. But where do you recognize him from, exactly?"

"Uh…"

"Oh! Maybe they went to something like camp together! He might be embarrassed because the guy caught him doing something awkward! I remember John telling me after he went to band camp he had some more _memorable_ moments." Jade pipes in, giving an extremely suggestive wink that doesn't help the severe blush spreading across your face. She's right about the "doing something awkward part." But still. Gross. Band camp, really?

"God no, ew, Jade! I didn't even do any 'experimenting' at band camp, anyways! And that's not where I recognize the new guy from!"

"Then stop blushing like a twelve year-old girl with a goddamn crush and quit being so fucking evasive! We're waiting!"

"Uh… I don't know the guy's name… But I'm pretty sure he's the stranger I salsa dipped on the way to school this morning."

There's a moment of complete silence. Then Jade leaps up and grabs you by the arm and begins to pull you out of your seat.

"Jade, what are you doing?!" You already know what she's going to say, of course.

"You and I are going over to say hi to the new kid! Except, I guess for you it'll be more of a 'hi, again!'" This only encourages you to try and firmly plant your feet in place on the floor. If she's so determined to get you to talk to him, then she's going to have to drag you over there. Jade clasps one of your arms between both her hands and pulls on it as hard as she can. And _damn, your cousin is strong._ She's slowly hauling you over to the stranger, and now that's she has her mind set on this, there's nothing you can do to get her off track.

You're silently screaming at God, _why me?! WHY?!_ Then again, you're fairly sure there is no God considering if there was one, he wouldn't make you go through this. Jade has finally managed to pull you over to the guy, and now that you're observing him more carefully and up-close, you're disappointed to realize that he's at least two or three inches taller than you even when he's slouching. He isn't facing you at the moment, though you're positive that he heard the sound of your sneakers scraping against the floor as you were dragged here against your will. Jade mischievously grins at you, then taps him on the shoulder.

He turns around and is obviously slightly surprised to see that anyone actually bothered to talk to him. But that expression disappears in a flash. He shifts his head and goes back to watching other students mill throughout the cafeteria. His voice doesn't betray him as he greets Jade with a nonchalant "sup."

"Hi! We noticed you standing around and none of the people at our table recognized you from any of our classes. Are you new here?"

"Yep. It's my first day." He's still not looking at her. He's glancing around the room instead. You're surprised that he hasn't even noticed that you're standing directly behind her. He's kind of grating on your nerves, considering he's being awfully rude to your cousin. Jade ignores his impoliteness, and pushes on.

"I hope you like it here, I guess! What's your name?"

"Dave. Dave Strider."

"Well, nice to meet you Dave! I'm Jade! And this is my cousin, John!" She pulls you out from behind her, and you inwardly cringe when he finally shifts his gaze from his surroundings and onto you. There's a pause in the conversation, and you swear you can feel his eyes roaming over you. You know that any moment, he's going to realize who you are and comment on what happened this morning.

He's opening his mouth when the bell signaling the end of lunch sounds. Apparently whatever he intended to say doesn't matter enough, because he simply says, "later" then strolls away to class. Holy shit that was close. Jade looks kind of disappointed. You on the other hand, let out a giant sigh of relief. Then you slip out of your cousin's grasp and practically run to your next class.

Fifth period is English. You walk over to your desk near the back of the classroom, and release your bag and books onto the floor. Other students are trickling into the room when you notice a particular blonde head that's new. You snap your head so you're facing the other direction and pretend to focus on something outside the window. The bell trills again, and your classmates all quickly find a seat. You spare a moment to look over at the suspicious blonde kid and your glance confirms your fears: it's the stranger—who apparently is named Dave. He's wandering around the classroom looking for a seat, by the looks of it.

It appears that all the seats in the room have been taken. Except for one. It's right next to you. Nothing seems to be going your way today. Dave finally seems to notice the available seat, and quietly sets down his stuff. You pretend to be occupied with reading something in your textbook. The teacher begins to speak and starts handing out worksheets, which provides a momentary distraction from the fact that you are absolutely terrified that this guy knows who you are, and will bring what happened up in the middle of class. But it appears that your luck is holding out and Dave hasn't even looked over at you once. Or at least you think he hasn't. You can't see his eyes behind his douche-y sunglasses, and it's making you nervous as fuck.

You get through the class period feeling like you're two breaths away from having a stroke. As soon as your teacher allows you to, you bend over and start collecting your books at a pace that would be Olympic Gold, if packing up stuff was an Olympic sport. Next thing you know, you're shouldering your backpack and practically speed walking towards the door. You're almost there when you hear the scuffling of someone tripping behind you. Unfamiliar hands latch onto your shoulders, pushing you forwards in their own attempt to regain their balance. Whoever is holding onto your shoulders is leaning over and- _oh god someone's whispering into your ear_.

"Nice job with the salsa dipping, bro. But I'm more of a tangoer."

With that statement, the person behind you releases your shoulders and you complete the graceful motion of falling face-first in front of the door. You bolt upright into a sitting position, only to see a particular blonde-headed boy stride past you, out into the hallway with a smirk plastered onto his features.

Well, fuck.


End file.
